The day before the game, Liverpool held a team meeting, and in order to have a more difficult task in the Champions League semi-finals, Benitez decided to let some of the main players rest in rotation, Chen Yu, as Liverpool's trump card, he is also one of the objects of rotation. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After talking to Benitez, Chen Yu immediately called Yang Xiaobin, the nephew of Birmingham boss Yang Cheng, and told him that he was resting for this round of the game, and if he didn't play, Birmingham didn't have to trade with him anymore.

Yang Xiaobin was very moved when he heard it, he told his uncle Yang Cheng the news, Yang Cheng was very happy, and he was also very grateful to Chen Yu for his gentlemanly style of not taking advantage of people's danger, he personally called Chen Yu, thanked Chen Yu, and told Chen Yu that if there was anything he needed to help in the future, he would definitely go all out.

Chen Yu admired Yang Cheng's love and support for football, and although he did not agree to his request, he also apologized for his attention.

The focus of the 36th round of the English Premier League is the first game between Manchester United and Chelsea, this game Manchester United must win if they want to continue to maintain the hope of competing for the title, and Chelsea because they have to prepare for the Champions League life and death match with Liverpool, as long as they don't lose face too much at home, they don't care about the outcome of the game.

Grant is indeed a pragmatist like Mourinho, and he did not hesitate to put on eight substitutes to keep the main team recuperating off the field.

However, Chelsea is the team with the strongest bench in the entire Premier League, and their substitutes are also qualified to play the absolute main force in the small and medium-sized clubs.

United scored first through Wayne Rooney on the counter-attack, but Chelsea then equalised through Andriy Shevchenko before Kalou, who had been a big player in the Champions League, put the lead in the lead.

Manchester United, who were behind, rushed forward and finally scored the equaliser through Cristiano Ronaldo, but in the end United were unable to get the three points they needed at Stamford Bridge and paid the price of Rooney's injury.

When the news came that Manchester United was drawn by Chelsea away, Benitez was even more relieved, he had put Gerrard and Alonso on the bench to prepare for them to go up and save the defeat when it was dangerous, but now there is no need for it, the pure substitute lineup plays, no matter whether they win or lose, these main players are not ready to play.

Like Chelsea, Liverpool's substitutes have been incredibly aggressive and will be hoping to win over Rafael Benitez with a rare start.

Birmingham saw that Liverpool was all substitutes, thinking that he had picked up a soft persimmon pinch, but he didn't expect that the substitutes were more difficult, and Birmingham was beaten again and again.

Then the two sides scored like a bamboo, first Liverpool scored, Birmingham equalized, then Birmingham scored, Liverpool equalized, and finally the two sides played a high score of 3:3.

Liverpool is very satisfied with such a score, maintaining a three-point gap with Manchester United, Liverpool's league title is basically equal to hand, and the main players have also been rested, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

However, Birmingham were not happy and did not take advantage of the great opportunity, and McLeish even complained after the game that the Reds were full of physical second-tier players, which led to the leader Birmingham not winning and thus falling deep into the relegation zone.

Birmingham boss Yang Cheng was also very angry, Chen Yu didn't play, Gerrard didn't play, Birmingham still couldn't win, Yang Cheng felt that Birmingham should change coaches.

After the 36th round of the league, Liverpool lead the league with 84 points, followed by Manchester United by three points, and in the final two rounds, they will defend the league title with a win against Liverpool.

Arsenal beat Derby County 6-2 in this round to surpass the drawn Chelsea and move into third place, although Chelsea fell to fourth, but fifth-placed Everton and their points gap is as much as seven points, and their Champions League place is already secure.

In the relegation battle, Bolton, Reading and Birmingham are all losers, they have not been able to seize the opportunity, only one point in the key relegation battle, while Fulham reversed Manchester City 3:2, won the key three points, now in addition to the dead Derby County, Fulham won only two points away from Birmingham and Reading, only three points away from Bolton, it turned out that they had almost half of their bodies fallen into the well, and now, they see the dawn of relegation.

After the 36th round, the relegation is still chaotic, but the championship has been clear, Liverpool's chances of winning the championship are as high as more than 80%, and now Liverpool has not too many worries, all the body and mind are put on the Champions League semi-finals with Chelsea.

After so many encounters, there was also a lively war of words in the first leg, and now before the battle of life and death, Chelsea and Liverpool have nothing to say, everyone is bored and ready for the life-and-death showdown at Stamford Bridge on the day of 4:30.

With only a week between the first and second legs of the semi-finals, and a Premier League game in between, before you know it, matchday is here.

First up was the match between Manchester United and Barcelona.

The first leg was a 0-0 draw between Manchester United and Barcelona at Camp Nou, which was played at Old Trafford, and as long as Barcelona can score a goal, they will progress to the final, while United will have to score to qualify.

In the nearly 90 minutes after Barcelona escaped the penalty in the first leg, they were dashing and suave, completely controlling the scene, only one goal away; Manchester United, of course, intended to retreat, but even if they had the intention to control the midfield, they were unable to do so.

If Manchester United concede a goal in the second leg, they must score two goals to advance, in this case, the average team will be afraid of the wolf and the tiger, but Manchester United is Manchester United, and they played like a mad demon in this game, and Barcelona's impact was scattered.

In the 14th minute, Zambrotta made a mistake after breaking the ball of Cristiano Ronaldo, and Scholes broke the ball 25 meters with the outside of his right foot and fired a powerful shot into the top right corner of the goal, giving Manchester United a 1-0 lead.

Then Barcelona launched a fierce attack, but the lack of Xiao Luo this kind of holding the ball, controlling the rhythm, accurate and concise passing players, Barcelona's attack power greatly reduced, although Messi had a few beautiful breakthroughs, but also on the left side of the penalty area unbelievably past Scholes, but he seems to be out of the rest of the whole, can not cause fatal damage to Manchester United's defense, and finally Manchester United had the last laugh at their own doorstep, they beat Barcelona by 1 goal to reach the Champions League final.

Liverpool is not too surprised that Manchester United entered the final, Barcelona is still the most beautiful team in the world, but without Ronaldo, Barcelona is no longer the most lethal team, they and Manchester United who beats who is common sense, but if Benitez chooses, he still hopes that Barcelona can win, because he is a Spaniard, he is better at dealing with Barcelona.

The match against Chelsea came after Liverpool's Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), founded in 1907 and with 4,000 member bodies, announced their 2008 best results: Chen Yu was named Player of the Year.

The award was voted for by Premier League players, and Chen's election also shows his status in the eyes of his opponents.

As Liverpool were preparing for their Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, he did not attend the award ceremony, and Liverpool manager Rick Barry went to London to collect the trophy for him.

Winning the trophy before the big game was also a small morale boost for Liverpool, and at the pre-match press conference, Beniter brought Chen Yu with him, who lifted the trophy in front of the camera and told Reds fans around the world that he would lift the Champions League trophy for Liverpool fans in Moscow just as he lifted this trophy.

Chen's behaviour was seen as a provocation by Blues fans because he did not take Chelsea seriously, and when Chen Yu arrived in London, he was also greeted with frantic boos from Blues supporters, fearing that Chen Yu would be interfered with by Blues fans before the game, and Liverpool's training in London was closed to fans and journalists.

The game was played at 7.45pm, and the 4,100-seat Stamford Bridge stadium was already full an hour earlier, with more than half a million TV and online viewers of today's game, according to The Times.

Liverpool made only one change to their starting line-up compared to the first leg, which was Babbel's replacement of Benayoun, which Benitez hoped would use Babbel's strength to play against Chelsea.

Chelsea made two changes from the first leg, with Essien replacing Pacos Ferreira at right-back, with Essien being physical, fast and fit, and his presence has given Chelsea a lot of strength.

In the other position, Kalou replaced Malouda as a right winger, flanking Drogba alongside Joe Cole.

Kalou was able to start because of the own goal he made in the first leg, which meant a lot to Chelsea, and Kalou and Malouda were close in quality, and Grant felt he was a good player and put him in the starting line-up.

This is the fourth consecutive season that the two teams have met in the Champions League, at Anfield, Liverpool have two wins and two draws, and at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have one win and three draws, although the record is almost the same, but it is always Liverpool who advances, which hurts the Chelsea people.

It was a do-or-die battle, and both teams were very patient after the opening, and the pace of attack and defense was very slow, and they all started to attack after solidifying the defense.

It wasn't until the fifth minute that the first shot on goal came when Joe Cole returned to his backfield to make a beautiful tackle on Kuyt, Lampard grabbed the ball and handed it to Ballack, who cut through Liverpool's midfield defence, Drogba picked up the ball from 25 yards and fired it away, with Liverpool goalkeeper Reyna flying to save the ball.

Breaking, passing, passing, shooting, Chelsea's attack was very simple, with only two passes from break to shot, without more than a metre of dribbling, reminiscent of the Chelsea style of the Jose Mourinho era.

Chelsea's corners were taken by Joe Cole, with the likes of John Terry, Didier Drogba and Ballack battling in the box, while the likes of Frank Lampard and Essien waited on the edge of the box.

Liverpool were very well organised in defending set-pieces, with every Chelsea top contestant being marked and taking precautions to get out of position, with Joe Cole driving the ball into the box and Ager leaping high to clear the ball out of the box.

Frank Lampard grabbed the second post and fed the ball to Essien, who fired a long-range shot from the same position as Drogba's shot had just begun, and it was so powerful that Reyna jumped up without touching it, but the ball flew off the crossbar.

In the 10th minute of the game, Liverpool finally had a shot on goal.

Joe Cole, who had previously stolen Kuyt, was tackled by Babel this time, and the Dutch teenager drove straight into the ball with the ball, brought it to the front court and handed it to the captain Gerrard, Gerrard passed to Chen Yu who was cruising to the middle of the penalty area, Chen Yu was sandwiched by the two, he did not take the ball, and when the ball leaked under the crotch, Chen Yu flicked it with his foot and passed it to Kuyt.

This beautiful leaky pass was applauded by Liverpool fans, and the commentator at the scene also said that this pass was full of energy, capable of scoring goals, and able to provide creativity, and Chen Yu's role in Liverpool was irreplaceable.

Kuyt couldn't decide whether to shoot or bring the ball into the box when he picked up the ball on the left side of the box, and after a moment's hesitation, the Chelsea defenders arrived, Kuyt was forced to shoot from a tight angle near the baseline, and Cech had already blocked the near corner, and he used his body to block the ball off the line.

After both teams have shots, the game gradually becomes open, and the pace of attack and defense is much faster than the opening, often Chelsea have just attacked the front of Liverpool's penalty area, and the moment the fans look down to pick up something, Liverpool has already hit Chelsea's penalty area when they look up.

Chelsea have home advantage and a stronger desire to win than Liverpool, and after 10 minutes they gradually gained the upper hand, except for possession, all the statistics are better than Liverpool.